Conventional toilet plumbing installations utilize a lead (Pb) pipe which extends downwardly from the bowl of the toilet into the space between the floor supporting the toilet and the ceiling of the room beneath the toilet. The lead pipe curves in this space about 90.degree. for joining with a ferrule by a wiped solder joint. The ferrule is usually sealed to a TY section of a soil stack with a caulked lead (Pb) and oakum joint. Occasionally, the lead pipe may extend between the toilet and the ferrule without bending, for example, when a toilet is installed in a cellar and directly connected to a sewer beneath the cellar.
The soil stack and TY section are usually made from a thick cast iron, which gives them a long life expectancy. Likewise, the ferrule has a long life expectancy due mainly to its thick brass construction. Inasmuch as the pipe from the toilet to the ferrule, however, is often made from lead (Pb), it has a considerably shorter life expectancy than the soil stack, TY section and ferrule, and, therefore, often becomes the first portion of the toilet plumbing installation to deteriorate and leak.
Installing the lead (Pb) pipe for toilets in new building structures has required both considerable effort and careful scheduling relative to completion of other portions of the structure to facilitate its installation. The oakum must first be packed between the ferrule and the TY section then lead, heated to approximately 700.degree. F. (370.degree. C.), poured over the oakum between the ferrule and the TY section. Caulking of the cooled lead joint with special chisels then completes the seal between the ferrule and TY section. The other end of the ferrule has been previously fitted to the lead pipe with a sealing bead of solder wiped about the fitted joint. The pipe usually curves upwardly from the joint through a floor built above the lead pipe for supporting the toilet. A flange is then secured to the end of the lead pipe at the floor, the flange being subsequently secured to the toilet. The flange may also be secured to the floor with fasteners.
The ceiling of the room beneath the toilet may then be installed. However, it cannot be installed until the plumbing for the toilet has been completed because the limited space between the floor which supports the toilet and the ceiling of the room beneath the toilet usually does not provide enough space for making the caulked lead (Pb) and oakum joint used in installing the toilet. Thus, even in new building structures, installing a toilet has required both a caulked oakum and lead (Pb) joint and a solder joint, both of which are difficult and time consuming to make, as well as scheduling of the construction to first complete the plumbing for the toilet and then finish the floor which supports the toilet and the ceiling of the room below the toilet.
When the pipe from a toilet springs a leak, it must, of course, be replaced. Replacing a lead (Pb) pipe, like initially installing the lead (Pb) pipe, has been a difficult and time-consuming operation. The toilet must first be removed from the flange on the pipe. A hole is then cut in the floor which supported the toilet to provide access to the leaking pipe. The leaking lead pipe is then cut off, usually with a reciprocating saw. The caulked oakum and lead joint must also be removed, a process which usually requires that the ferrule be removed with a hammer and chisel. If the hammering and chiseling damages the TY section of the soil stack, which due to its cast iron construction, can crack and cannot be repaired, a major reconstruction job of replacing the TY section becomes necessary.
Even if the old ferrule is successfully removed from the TY section without being damaged, a new ferrule must then be installed. Installing the new ferrule requires inserting a new oakum packing, pouring molten lead about the oakum, and then caulking the molten lead to again form a permanent seal between the ferrule and the TY section. The new lead (Pb) pipe must also be connected to the new ferrule with a wiped solder joint.
The limited space between the floor which supports the toilet and the ceiling of the room beneath the toilet usually prevents properly forming the caulked oakum and lead joint between the TY section of the soil stack and the ferrule without opening the ceiling of the room beneath the toilet and the floor which supports the toilet. Both the floor and ceiling must then be replaced, making the installation of the new lead (Pb) pipe quite expensive. In addition, the old ferrule was probably in satisfactory condition, as a result of its heavy brass construction, even though the lead (Pb) pipe had sprung a leak. Replacing the old, but structurally sound, ferrule with a new ferrule then wastefully requires supplying the new ferrule. Of course, proper tools, including equipment for heating the new molten lead (Pb) joint to approximately 700.degree. F. (370.degree. C.), are also needed.
Although it would seem that an easier way of replacing the leaking lead (Pb) pipe would be to separate the old pipe from the ferrule at the wiped solder joint and then connect a new lead (Pb) pipe to the old ferrule with a new wiped solder joint, the wiped solder joint cannot be formed satisfactorily while the ferrule is connected to the TY section of the soil stack. Even if a way of properly forming the solder joint between the pipe and ferrule while the ferrule is connected to the TY section were found, forming such a joint would still be likely to require removing the ceiling of the room beneath the toilet and the floor which supports the toilet to provide adequate room for forming the solder joint. The additional expense of replacing the ceiling as well as the floor will thus still be incurred.
In recent years polyvinyl chloride (hereinafter PVC) plumbing pipes have become available. Such PVC pipes, however, have not been available long enough to have been used in a significant portion of toilet installations in this country. In addition, after the recent introduction of PVC pipes, their use was resisted until the satisfactory performance of such pipes could be demonstrated and local building codes changed to permit their use. PVC pipes are thus not likely to be found in even relatively recent structures and are even less likely to be found in structures which are old enough for a lead (Pb) pipe to have deteriorated sufficiently to leak. Most toilets are thus connected to a cast iron soil stack by a lead (Pb) pipe and brass ferrule as described above.
In my U.S. patent application Ser. No. 610,863, filed Sept. 5, 1975, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,038,737, dated Aug. 2, 1977, there is disclosed a novel method and apparatus for installing or replacing a discharge pipe which extends between a toilet and a ferrule structure. The method and apparatus couple a discharge pipe to the ferrule structure with a compressible sleeve which extends over facing ends of the discharge pipe and ferrule structure. Ring clamps compress and seal the sleeve to the discharge pipe and the ferrule structure.
Although the sleeve employed in the method and apparatus described and illustrated in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,038,737 overcomes the problems and difficulties discussed above, its design creates certain additional problems. For instance, inasmuch as the sleeve is necessarily flexible enough to be compressed about the ferrule structure and the discharge pipe, the sleeve provides only limited support for the discharge pipe. The support for pipes which are joined by a flexible, compressible sleeve not only must be adequate to support the pipes when they are installed, but also must be adequate enough to keep the pipes from shifting and sagging over the years after they are installed. Preventing movement of the pipes is particularly important when one of the pipes joined by such a sleeve is the discharge pipe from a toilet, because movement of the discharge pipe relative to the toilet could cause a leak between the toilet and pipe. Inasmuch as the toilet covers the discharge pipe, such a leak might not be detected until it causes noticeable and severe damage to the structure about the toilet.
Moreover, because the compressible sleeve is designed to cooperate with a bead formed at the end of the ferrule structure remote from the soil stack, the ferrule structure cannot be shortened by removing the end with the bead. Shortening the ferrule structure would provide additional room for the installation or replacement of the discharge pipe, and, therefore, would be very advantageous.